The present invention relates to a method and a device for the physical separation of components of a molecular beam with different masses and/or gas kinetic cross sections.
The molecular beams frequently used in science and technology consist of components of different masses and/or different gas kinetic cross sections. For instance, molecular beams are generated from mixtures of both light and heavy components with the object of accelerating the heavy component to the velocity of the light one. It is desired to then remove the light component as far as possible by separation. So far this problem has been solved by collimating the core section of the molecular beam (R. Klingelhofer, P. Lohse, "Production of Fast Molecular Beams Using Gaseous Mixtures." The Physics of Fluids, vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 379--381). However, in principle, it is possible only to enrich the heavier component in the core section, because the axes of the distributions of directions of the trajectories of both components coincide.
In another case of practical importance the molecular beam consists of molecular agglomerates of different sizes in which the molecules and atoms, respectively, are retained by van der Waals forces (condensed molecular beams). One method of the physical concentration of such beams moving in a vacuum is characterized in that the beam, which is already enriched in agglomerates, is deflected at a reflector of high surface quality, collimation of predetermined angular sections of the reflected total beam generating partial beams of different mean particle sizes (German Pat. No. 1,639,248). However, this gives rise to a loss of substance of the beam and an effective separation process requires both high surface quality and the maintenance of a reflector temperature which is specific with respect to the beam gas and a function of the respective range of sizes of the agglomerates.